Gremlins: Secrets Of The Mogwai First Look: Series Will Debut At The Annecy International Animation Film Festival

It seems that gremlins will be joining the Minions at the 2022 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. According to Warner Bros. Animation and Amblin Television, the animated prequel series "Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai" will be making its global debut at the event, with the show's first episode being screened at the Grande Salle de Bonlieu. An exact date and time for the screening will be announced at a later time closer to the festival, which will take place from June 13–18, 2022, in the town of Annecy, France.

Joe Dante, who directed the live-action "Gremlins" movies, is a consulting producer on "Secrets of the Mogwai" and will be attending the show's premiere at Annecy with executive producers Tze Chun (who also developed the series) and Brendan Hay. The three of them will participate in a post-screening Q&A discussion to talk about the making of the show, which will begin streaming on HBO Max in 2022. In the meantime, Warner Bros. and Amblin have unveiled a first-look image featuring Gizmo as they appear in "Secrets of the Mogwai" (seen below).

The official "Secrets of the Mogwai" synopsis reads as follows:

In "Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai," we travel back to 1920s Shanghai to reveal the story of how 10-year-old Sam Wing (future shop owner Mr. Wing in the 1984 movie) met the young Mogwai called Gizmo. Along with a teenage street thief named Elle, Sam and Gizmo take a perilous journey through the Chinese countryside, encountering, and sometimes battling, colorful monsters and spirits from Chinese folklore. On their quest to return Gizmo to his family and uncover a legendary treasure, they are pursued by a power-hungry industrialist and his growing army of evil Gremlins.

Izaac Wang ("Raya and the Last Dragon") is voicing the 10-year-old Sam in the "Gremlins" prequel series, with Gabrielle Nevaeh Green ("All That") voicing Elle. Other cast members include Ming-Na Wen ("The Book of Boba Fett") as Sam's mother, Fong, who is described as "a doctor of Chinese medicine who is resourceful, slyly funny and fiercely protective of her family," and BD Wong ("Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom") as Sam's father, Hon, "a calm rock that has never believed his father-in-law's tales of magic and adventure." Hon's father-in-law is also referred to as simply Grandpa, a character who is voiced by James Hong ("Turning Red") and "claims to have traveled the world on grand adventures and he alone knows the true power (and secrets) of the Mogwai and the importance of protecting them." Lastly, "The Americans" and "Perry Mason" star Matthew Rhys is voicing the show's villain Riley Greene, "a power-hungry English industrialist and treasure hunter who wields black magic that is determined to stop at nothing in his pursuit of Gizmo and the mythical treasure of the Mogwai."

Between the great (and predominantly Asian-American) voice cast, Dante consulting, and Chun — who's also penned episodes of the shows "Once Upon a Time," "Gotham," and "Little America" — serving as head writer, the hope is that "Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai" will retain the inspired sense of comical mayhem from the live-action "Gremlins" while also being respectful in its portrayal of period China and real Chinese folklore. We'll see if that's the case when the series bows at Annecy, prior to hitting HBO Max on a yet-to-be-revealed date in 2022.